A law firm strategy memo persuaded a federal judge yesterday to block enforcement of a potential multi-billion dollar judgment against Chevron for environmental damage caused by a predecessor oil company in Ecuador…Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a temporary restraining order that would prevent Ecuadorean plaintiffs and their law firm…from seeking to enforce in New York a massive award that a court in Ecuador is expected to issue against the oil company…The judge said he was convinced that the unusual restraining order, issued even before a judgment has been announced, was proper because of the "plaintiffs' announced strategy to cause as much disruption as possible." The dispute stems from a suit brought in Ecuador by Ecuadorean natives to hold Chevron responsible for environmental degradation and health problems from pollution allegedly left unremedied by its predecessor, Texaco, some 19 years ago.